


Out of Touch

by end_alls



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Kairi is also there and says hi, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24971161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/end_alls/pseuds/end_alls
Summary: Post-KH3 Re mind fic with some Pushing Daisies rules because that's just what happens when you watch Pushing Daisies. Riku brings Sora back to life on the islands, but can't touch him or else he'll go back to being dead (again)
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 64





	Out of Touch

A touch that sparked on his cheek like a kiss.

Sora gasped, heavy lungs filling with fresh, salty air. He bolted up, hands scrambling to find purchase on the sand as his eyes adjusted to the brightest light he’d seen since—oh.

He’d died.

So, was he dead?

If he was, where was this?

“Sora.”

The rest of his vision snapped into sudden clarity as his eyes met Riku’s. Sound seemed to drop out as the waves froze where they rolled, the wind held its breath through the trees.

Sora and Riku’s smiles unfurled together like ships’ sails rising on the sea, and they laughed. Riku was kneeling next to him on the shore of the play island, eyes as close to crying as Sora had ever seen them. Sora blinked furiously, trying to keep his own vision from blurring with tears.

“Riku!” Sora threw his hands out and lunged forward to fling his arms around Riku’s neck.

Space and time stretched longer in that moment as the distance between them grew strangely farther. It was like he was already back in his dreams, lost in the sleep of death where everything was too far away to touch.

After an almost endless in-between, Sora’s elbows connected with the hard, wet sand between them, his hands empty. The wind returned to hit his face, turning the warm tears in his eyes ice cold on his cheeks. He looked up, lost, to see that instead of letting Sora hug him, Riku had moved backwards and stood, feet in the surf and fists clenched at his sides.

The last remnants of Sora’s smile fell away.

He must still be in a dream. Except instead of chasing after Riku’s outstretched hand as the ocean rose behind him, Riku didn’t even want to touch him. “…I’m still asleep,” Sora said quietly.

It was enough to bring Riku’s eyes back from the far-away place they’d gone, and he shook his head fervently. “No, no—Sora, you’re _home._ You’re here. I promise you.”

If this was home, it didn’t feel like it. Sora let his eyes trace the shore, as if they’d catch on a seam that would send this world unraveling and reveal it as a fake.

When they didn’t find anything, Sora pulled himself slowly to his feet, every moment thinking about how easy it would be if Riku would just reach his arm out…

“I’ve got to tell the others,” Riku said suddenly, taking another step backwards and submerging both his boots in water. “Wait—wait here.”

“But Riku—” Sora reached out his hand, and Riku staggered backwards, almost losing his footing in the sea. Sora’s throat closed with a taste like saltwater.

“I’ve got to go, Sora, I’ll—I’ll be back. I promise.” Without waiting a moment more, Riku called his Keyblade, and then—Sora finally noticed the pauldron attached to his jacket—Riku summoned a suit of black and bluish-grey Keyblade armor inlaid with accents of gold.

Sora watched, awed and confused, as Riku turned Braveheart into a glider that glinted like a gunmetal motorcycle, climbed onto it, and shot off into the sky off to somewhere Sora couldn’t follow.

Water filled Sora’s shoes until the chill of it hit his ankles as he walked forward into the surf, unable to keep his feet from stepping towards Riku as he disappeared above.

This wasn’t home.

This wasn’t home at all.

Sora was shivering when everyone else arrived, having stood in the water, lost in thought, until the Gummiship appeared on the horizon.

Everyone else hugged him, cried with him, smiled until their cheeks were sore, and after all of it, it felt selfish to want more, but he did. Riku continued to hover just out of reach, still—almost ridiculously—in his Keyblade armor. Was he showing off? Showing Sora all the training he’d gotten up to while he was—dead?

It kept hitting him, like waves hitting a dock post. He’d _died_ and Riku had been the one there when he came back, and now he couldn’t even see his face beneath the black-brushed glass of his helmet.

Riku had been the one to bring him back, hadn’t he? He’d wanted him here, hadn’t he?

So what had changed between that moment and this?

Riku noticed him looking, and raised a meek, armored hand in greeting. Sora took it as an opportunity to part the friends circled around him and storm over.

Riku reacted like he _was_ a storm, tensing and taking a few steps backwards to maintain a cushion of space between them. Sora practically screamed.

“Riku, what’s _with_ you? And why won’t you take off that stupid helmet?!” Sora swiped up in an attempt to pull it off—was Riku even _taller_ with the armor on?—but a chilled metal hand caught his wrist.

Riku quickly released him and put his palms up defensively, as if Sora were made of glass and the contact could have cracked him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sora.”

“Riku,” Sora warned.

Riku’s fingers curled into fists before he stiffly lowered his hands to his sides. “Can I—” Sora couldn’t even hear his voice clearly when it was being piped through that stupid tin suit. “—talk to you in private?”

Sora huffed and stole a glance backwards towards everyone else, but they’d already resumed their valiant attempts to carry a normal conversation, and they seemed to be making an effort _not_ to look at the two of them. “… _Fine.”_

Riku set off immediately with Sora all but stomping at his heels, and the two of them circled briskly around the welcoming party towards the tree cover of the play island. Once Riku stepped up onto the dirt level in the shade of the trees, Sora could guess where they were going.

As the two of them entered the Secret Place, Sora’s frustration cooled down a notch along with the air. He took a deep breath and looked at Riku, who had stopped and spun around as soon as they’d come in, like he’d thought Sora would keep walking, run into him, and the two of them would both _detonate._

“Riku, _what_ is going on,” Sora hissed. “Did I die and come back made of paper mâché?

Even with a darkened visor in the low light of the cave, he still wouldn’t take off his freaking armor. Sora was about to open his mouth and demand why when Riku opened his, somewhere under his freaking helmet. “Sora, um… The thing is…”

Sora folded his arms, but didn’t go so far as to tap his foot as he waited. Then Riku’s head drooped, and even in his tall, polished armor, he suddenly looked small. “To bring you back, I…”

Sora’s face fell. Was that why? Had Riku done something to himself again? Some damage to his heart that the armor was keeping him safe from? Sora suddenly felt horrible, horribly guilty, for not having been there to talk him out of it.

“…I made a choice.”

“…What was it?” Sora asked, at almost a whisper.

“You’re back. You’re alive. _You’re real.”_ Riku went on quietly. He raised his head towards Sora. “But I can’t touch you.” There was a small sound of metal brushing metal as Riku’s fists clenched. “That was the condition. I can’t touch you or else you’ll…”

“Die,” Sora finished, eyes going out of focus. “Again.”

Riku directed a nod towards the wall.

Sora sank to the stone floor of the cave and into a sitting position, letting his hands fall limply into his lap. He stared at them, flipped up like useless, beached crabs. He was already trying to rationalize it—tell himself the price wasn’t really that steep. The two of them were whole and complete, and they were here together now, on the island with everyone they loved. They hadn’t lost anyone, and they hadn’t lost each other.

So why did he feel numb, unreal, like he was trapped and dreaming again?

The sound of shifting metal as Riku kneeled before him. “That’s why. I’m sorry.”

Sora looked up at him, eyes suddenly wet as they searched the surface of Riku’s visor, trying to find the teal eyes underneath. “But…” Sora didn’t know what he was supposed to say. _But I want to touch you_ sounded so ridiculous that the words refused to leave his throat.

Riku lowered himself to sit down in front of him, his armored boots nearly touching Sora’s shoes. Sora stared at them. They didn’t have high heels. Had Riku just gotten _even taller_ while he’d been…

“I was gone a year?”

“A little over a year.”

“Were you counting the days?”

“Yes.”

Sora’s lips twisted messily into a smile.

“I carried you back,” Riku said. Then, more quietly. “After I found you.”

Sora folded his arms on top of his knees, and fixed his attention on a small pebble on the floor. “How was I?”

“Not like you are.” Riku seemed just as interested in the pebble. “They said that when I touched you, you’d be brought back. And they said that when I touched you _again,_ you’d… you know.”

Sora’s head went up. “Who said that?”

“I… don’t know. A voice in the darkness.” They’d known so many of those, and there was nothing useful Sora could remember that would help them guess who it might’ve been. Riku gestured to his suit. “I carried you back, like this, so that when you woke up… you’d be somewhere safe.”

Sora smiled. “My knight in shining armor.” He nudged Riku’s boot with his shoe.

Riku nudged back.

“…Is that suit even comfortable?”

“I’ve gotten used to it.”

“That sounds like something a you from before would say.”

Riku was quiet, unreadable beneath the mask. Sora batted the soles of both his boots with his feet to get his attention again. “This is okay though?”

Riku nodded, letting the toe of his armor rest against the rounded top of Sora’s shoe. “Seems like it. But you almost gave me a heart attack earlier.”

Sora playfully kicked his foot away. “You could’ve told me sooner! Like, right away even?” Something heavy suddenly rose to tangle itself in his chest, and he didn’t say anything more—not about standing in the surf of the play island for what might have been hours, wondering what he’d done to make Riku treat him like that.

“Sorry,” Riku said. “I’d just gotten you back—you’d just gotten back. It was… I couldn’t just—”

Sora found himself smiling. “It’s okay.”

Sora watched the articulated fingers of Riku’s armor curl and uncurl. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” he asked.

“You could hug me.”

“Now?” Riku’s chin lifted, surprised. “In this?”

“We could pretend.”

Riku tucked his knees up, then let them fall to the side in an invitation to let him come closer. Sora scooted forward, closing the distance, and Riku only slightly flinched as Sora’s arms met his waist to wrap around the exterior of the armor. In the space of a breath, after it seemed like it was safe, Riku’s arms came to wrap around Sora’s shoulders, then up to cup the back of his head and pull it into the crook of his neck.

They stayed like that as long as they could, with blunt bits of metal poking Sora’s chest and cheek. It was awkward, and uncomfortable, and a little cold, but they could pretend.

“Did you find out why Riku’s acting all…” Kairi put up her hood and covered her eyes with a hand like a blindfold, then pursed her lips in a long-suffering frown.

Sora laughed and nudged her arm, then quickly pulled away. It was that easy to mess all this up. He’d never realized _how much_ he touched people until he found out he couldn’t. The wind off he ocean sent a shiver through him.

Kairi’s face dropped. “What’s wrong, Sora?”

Sora brought his hands into his lap where he was sitting on the paopu tree, laced his fingers together and pretended they were someone else’s. “…Riku’s the one who brought me back. But he said there’s a price.”

“Then underneath the armor, he’s—” Kairi’s mind had already gone to the same place his had—to their friend having to wear a face that wasn’t his, all because of Sora.

“The price was for me,” Sora said. ”Or, I guess, maybe both of us.” He rubbed his thumb against his palm. “…He can’t touch me. If he touches me, I—go back.”

“…Oh.” Kairi’s eyes went sad as the weight of it settled on her too. “Oh, Sora…” Her hand moved to rest on top of his, then hesitated. “It’s—you’re sure it’s just him?”

Sora nodded. “I hugged everyone else when I got back, remember?” He let out a huff. “He was the only one in that stupid armor.”

Kairi gave a small chuckle. “He sure knows how to worry us. We thought he was hiding like, a mortal wound or something.” Her brow suddenly furrowed. “…He’s not, is he?”

“He _better_ not be.” Sora looked down at the beach where Riku had woken him. “He wasn’t wearing it at first, when he brought me back, and I didn’t notice anything then.”

Kairi sighed with relief. “Good.” Then, “…If he was, he’d have to be at least limping, right?”

“He’d have to be.” Sora grinned.

“And now he’s just going to… wear that all the time?”

“Uh-huh,” Sora said. “At least when he’s around me.”

“I haven’t earned mine yet, but it’s gotta be heavy, right?”

“Mmhmm.” Even with Kairi beside him, his heart was starting to feel trapped inside its own metal chambers.

Kairi’s face softened, and she brought her hand to rest on his—all the way this time. “I’m really sorry, Sora. But knowing you two, even this won’t be enough to keep you apart.”

“So, any touch? Even if it’s not with your hands?” Sora asked.

“I didn’t ask.” Riku said curtly as Sora imagined his lips in a line as he said it. “Do you want to take that chance?”

Sora sighed. “No…” He kicked a bit of the rubble they were cleaning up. By now, Sora was “recovered” enough to be out on a mission with Riku, but he wasn’t allowed to go to any worlds that were deemed “too dangerous”, so today he and Riku were helping the Restoration Committee in Radiant Garden. Riku was making easy work of it with his keyblade armor, but repairing a wall together was made even less fun by the other one that had been built between the two of them.

Riku’s breathing had gotten heavier in the last few minutes, and he’d begun shifting underneath his suit, like he was uncomfortable.

“Can’t you at least take off the helmet?”

“No.”

“But I wanna see your face.”

“You’ve seen it before.”

“Not _lately,”_ Sora said. “Not _long enough.”_

Riku sighed somewhere under the helmet, and Sora saw the inside of the visor get ever-so-lighter where his breath had fogged up the inside.

“You’re gonna get heat stroke.”

“I told you, I’m not taking any chances.”

“What, you think if I see your eyes, I’ll get lost in them and faint?” Sora batted his eyelashes dramatically, leaning towards him.

“Knowing a knucklehead like you, it could happen.”

“I _promise_ I’ll _control_ myself, Riku.”

Sora could almost see him rolling his eyes. But then Riku’s helmet turned to him, and he raised an armored hand, pinky up. “Pinky promise?”

Sora beamed, and locked his own pinky around the metal. “Pinky promise!”

They took a break from their work, and settled onto some nearby steps, far enough apart that they’d both have to reach their arms out in order to make contact. Riku cast off his armor—all of it, not just the helmet—and for good reason, because he'd been practically drenched with sweat inside it. His hair was the worst—a sloppy mess of strands _begging_ to be brushed back in place, and Sora almost broke their solemn pinky promise right then and there.

“Fix your hair,” he said instead.

Riku looked up at his bangs a little self-consciously, then combed his fingers through his hair until it was more or less properly styled again.

Sora pulled a clean rag out of one of his pockets, and let it drop onto the stone between them. “Now wipe your face.”

Riku took it once Sora’s hand had properly retreated, and wiped the sweat from his face and neck, watching him all the while.

“Now… put your hand on your cheek, like this.” Sora touched his own face, letting his fingers trace softly down his cheek. Riku’s eyes never left his as he did the same.

“Now put that hand on top of your other one.”

Together, they placed their right hands on top of their left, letting fingers run over their knuckles before settling into a tight, affirming squeeze.

They could pretend.

“Thanks for bringing me back to life, Riku.”

“You’re welcome, Sora.”

**Author's Note:**

> Might be spurred to write more of this when I watch more of the show, we shall seee
> 
> I'm on twitter at [toppiegames!](https://twitter.com/toppiegames)


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